Lanterne Rouge
Great blog on the lanterne rouge, last palce in the TDF:
http://sittingin.bicycling.com/
Excerpts:
I like that. That's exactly why I am always interested in learning about the lanterne rouge winner each year. It's a celebration of the perseverance, effort and ability in the face of near insurmountable hurdles and struggle. The TDF is a damn hard race and actually finishing it, even in last place, is a huge feat that even many pro-riders will never achieve.
http://sittingin.bicycling.com/
Excerpts:
When it comes to the Tour de France, it’s swell to spend your time admiring what my drinking pal Phil likes to call “the sharp end of the race.” Go ahead, get your chamois in a sweat every time Ricco or one of the Schlecks draw blood with an attack. But my deep experience watching knife fights has taught me that if you want to really appreciate the artistry of the struggle you have to focus not solely on the blades but also on the hilts — and nothing this year deserves your attention more than Wim Vansevenant’s pursuit of a record-setting third Lanterne Rouge title.
The title is no insult. It’s an outright accolade: The guy who sticks out the suffering and indignities of the Tour despite being a good three hours off the podium is a badass existential anti-hero — think Cool Hand Luke with chainrings instead of chain gangs.
If second place is the first loser, then last place is, in a way, the final winner.
I like that. That's exactly why I am always interested in learning about the lanterne rouge winner each year. It's a celebration of the perseverance, effort and ability in the face of near insurmountable hurdles and struggle. The TDF is a damn hard race and actually finishing it, even in last place, is a huge feat that even many pro-riders will never achieve.
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Comments
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There's some great stories about LR and the old black jersey in the Giro. Apparantly it became quite a competition initself to see who could retain the black jersey. Amazing...only in cycling
'How can an opinion be bullsh1t?' High Fidelity0 -
Sebastien Chavanel is the new 'leader.' he's lost loads of time on the last few days with vansevant stuck in the autobus
EDIT: Cyclkingnews has him outside the time limit on todays stage though - he wont be the leader if he doesnt carry on. Sometimes the judges can ignore the time limit if there are special circumstances.0 -
He's still listed in the results on letour.fr.
He had to wait an age for some help when got his gilet tangled up in his back wheel, so maybe they waived the time cut.0 -
Geraint Thomas wasn't far off it last year was he? Wim's becoming a bit of a cult hero over on the bbc 606 boards.0
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I spoke to Wim at the London pre-start village last year and he seems a really nice guy.
Mind you, might be less stress in getting lanterne rouge than one of the jersies...0
